


Why do I remember kissing you?

by swallowthewhale



Series: Lemon Dreams [9]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-12
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-12-01 08:27:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11482518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swallowthewhale/pseuds/swallowthewhale
Summary: The team gets massively drunk and plays spin-the-bottle. Cisco wakes up with a killer hangover and... memories of kissing Caitlin? How did that happen?





	Why do I remember kissing you?

Cisco wakes up flat on his back on the floor, looking up into Caitlin’s scrunched up, confused face, her hair a tangled, messy halo around her face. Cisco tries to conjure up some moisture in his mouth so he can swallow.

“I remember kissing you,” Caitlin says hoarsely from above him. “Why do I remember kissing you?”

Cisco stares up into her wide eyes and quickly rewinds through the night before. Had he said something stupid? Had he tried to kiss her? He’s been really drunk before and had always been able to resist that particularly idiotic temptation. “Um?” he says.

Caitlin rolls onto her back on the couch. “Everything’s so fuzzy.” Her voice is muffled by the arm across her face.

Cisco presses the palms of his hands into his eyes. What the hell did they do? “All I remember is jello shots and a poorly thought-out game of spin the bottle.”

Caitlin hums. “That would explain the kissing.”

Barry had gotten frazzled and upset when Iris’ spins had landed on everyone but him, and had taken off at super-speed with three shots of Caitlin’s highly concentrated alcohol in him. It ended poorly, Cisco remembers, and he does not look forward to having to patch more drywall. Man, he thought they were through that phase.

Caitlin rolls off the couch and lands on top of him with an oomph. “Hi,” she says, tucking herself between him and the couch, her head on his shoulder.

Cisco blows her hair off his face. “Hi,” he says. “I really need to pee.”

Caitlin snickers. “I think I’m still drunk.”

Cisco keeps his eyes on the ceiling. It’s kind of dirty. “I’m thoroughly hungover.” Are you supposed to clean the ceiling? “We should both probably drink a lot of water.”

Caitlin sighs. “I really want pizza.”

He turns to look at her. “It’s nine in the morning.”

She shrugs and heaves herself off the floor. “Water and shower.” She offers him a hand. “Do you want to go first?”

Cisco shakes his head. “Naw, you go. I’m going to try to find everyone else. I think they’re all still here.”

Cisco walks from the break room down the the cortex with his heart slamming against his ribs as he tries to remember what the hell happened last night. He doesn’t remember kissing Caitlin. He remembers kissing Iris (a little awkward), Barry (kind of weird), and Wally (surprisingly good?). Why did he kiss Caitlin if not for spin the bottle?

Barry is sleeping curled up under one of the desks, clutching the bottle they’d used for the game. Iris and Wally are in a puppy pile of blankets and hospital gowns in the med bay. Cisco finds a bottle of water in the fridge and sips it slowly, wandering back to the break room with another water bottle for Caitlin.

He sits back down on the couch to wait and the vibe drifts over him slowly, until he opens his eyes and the room is blue and hazy.

Caitlin’s head is on his shoulder, her knees tucked into her chest. She’s saying something, quietly, into his arm. He turns to look at her and his breath catches in his chest. Their noses brush, and one of them closes the distance, then Cisco’s hand is in her hair, and Caitlin’s fingers are curled into his shirt, and she’s tugging him closer.

Cisco opens his eyes. The water bottles roll to the floor. There’s an odd feeling under his breastbone, like there’s something too big pushing out and begging to be set free. He feels like he might throw up.

Cisco had packed up his feelings for Caitlin a long time ago, put them in a box in the corner of his heart and refused to open it. Not when Ronnie died, the first time or the second time, not when Jay turned out to be a psychopathic serial killer, not when Dante died and Caitlin sat with him on his couch every night for a week, and definitely not when things between her and Julian fizzled out.

It’s open now. And Cisco probably won’t be able to close it again.

He looks up, and Caitlin is standing in the doorway, watching him stare stupidly at the wall. She has an odd look on her face. Cisco’s seen it before, when she’s trying to untangle a particularly difficult problem, or when someone’s done something she can’t understand.

“It wasn’t spin the bottle,” she says. Her hands are shaking and she wraps her them around her elbows.

Cisco flushes. “Cait-”

Caitlin interrupts him. “Do you remember?”

He grimaces. “I do now. Look, Cait-”

She’s standing ramrod straight. “If you’re going to tell me it was a mistake, don’t.”

He opens his mouth, closes it, and scrubs a hand over his face. “That’s not what I was going to say.”

She shrinks back a little, her knuckles white where she’s gripping her arms. “What, then?”

“I’m sorry.” She flinches but he continues. “We were both wasted, and I never should have kissed you like that.” He looks up. “Consent and all that.”

Caitlin relaxes a tiny bit. “I wasn’t drunk enough to not be able to consent,” she says stiffly. Then, more softly, “I trust you.”

Cisco smiles but his face is still a mess of distress and dread. “I understand if you want to forget about it.”

Caitlin frowns, studying him, then walks over and sits next to him on the couch. “Why would I want to do that?”

Cisco picks up his bottle of water, twisting the cap on and off. “Because you don’t feel the same way,” he mumbles.

She puts a hand on top of his. He stills. “I don’t know if I feel the same way,” she says gently. “Because you haven’t told me how _you_ feel.”

Cisco laughs humorlessly, his gaze fixed on their hands. “I’ve only been in love with you for five years.”

Caitlin is quiet for long enough that he panics.

“Forget about it.” He tugs his hands out from under hers. “Let’s just pretend like that was the hangover talking. We can go back to normal, forget about all of this,” his voice ratchets up in volume as his stomach turns to lead.

“Cisco,” Caitlin says quietly.

“I’m, um, I’m going to go,” he says frantically, standing. His eyes finally meet hers. “Please, just forget about it?”

“Cisco,” Caitlin says firmly, and stands. “Shut up.” She gently smacks her hands on his cheeks and kisses him. He shuts up.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me at swallowthewhale on tumblr if you want to send prompts or just chat!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Strange Bells (Why Do I Remember Kissing You?: The Road Trip Remix)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12055908) by [M_Scott_Eiland](https://archiveofourown.org/users/M_Scott_Eiland/pseuds/M_Scott_Eiland)




End file.
